The time has come to blog on many things: on shoes and ships and social web, on content, kings and celebrities.

Amid all that euphoria of the
massive election victory of the BJP, when the whole world was impatiently
watching the steps of its would be Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, what captured
the attention of the media was a bizarre
thanks giving meeting organised by it.

Several senior leaders of the BJP
who won the recent election assembled to felicitate Baba Ramdev, who was conspicuously
absent from the meet and media glare, who helped them win the election by his blessings, which were more mundane than divine.

However the party can neither acknowledge
nor felicitate the sources of the massive funds behind its campaign so openly,
though someday somehow favours will have to be returned. For now, one Indian,
who set out to expose and prevent corruption in India is languishing in the Tiharjail.

Arvind Kejeriwal and his AAP were
broke even before he found he had no money to bail himself out. He had
acknowledged long time back that his party had no funds to take on the NDA and
the UPA in the parliamentary election, a political reality glaring at him he
refused to see before setting out on his mission.

"They that have done this deed are honourable: What private griefs they have, alas, I know not, That made them do it: they are wise and honourable, And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you."

Though William Shakespeare, the greatest of English writers, used those words to define a bunch of Roman conspirators, he might have used them even today to expose an elite bunch of egoistic Indians, blind with self glorification.
Who are they? They are all honourable leaders of modern India who collectively brought down the Indian GDP growth from 9% to 5% in a couple of years, sabotaging any chance a billion of its poor had to come out of poverty and a miserable life. There are even Harvard educated among them, but the plight of the poor and down trodden was not their concern and the need for GDP growth was not their business.
The damage and the back stabbing they have collectively done to India is nothing short of the treachery and guile in the Shakespearian drama, because as highly educated they are, they can't pretend not to know the damage they have caused to the plight of a billion poor Indians who earn barely a dollar a day, in their own quest for glory.
These pretentious leaders, each one of them with a hidden agenda, pretend to uphold morality in life and politics and fight for it, in various forms, as if it is the only thing India needs. Disregarding the damage they will cause to the country's image and growth, they have latched on to every opportunity, every accusation of impropriety to obstruct the functioning of the government inside and outside the parliament, bringing total paralysis.
In a short span of two years they have managed to sabotage every attempt of the minority government of Dr Man Mohan Singh and all reform measures he has tried to bring to maintain the high growth trajectory his reforms and governance has brought for India.
On the top of this list of these self serving Indians who have appropriated morality for themselves is India's CAG, Vinod Rai, himself a Harvard educated government servant, who has dealt the first and heaviest of blows, with accusations of ludicrous amounts of loss to the government. Though the hollowness of his accusations have since been exposed by an auction and revelation by a subordinate, it too late as enormous damage has been done to investor confidence.
Arvind Kejriwal, the "Indian Romney" who claim that the direct disbursement of income benefit to the poorest people of India amounts to bribing, can claim a prominent position. Kejriwal, who shot himself to fame by training his guns on the popular Gandhian Anna Hazare to appropriate some popularity for himself has since been exposed by declaring his own political party, of all things to fight corruption, of course.Mamta Banerjee, the main coalition partner of Dr Man Mohan Singh who has vetoed every one of his reform measures should be honoured as the Nero of modern India as she spends her time in art and writing poetry as India's GDP had been tumbling down the drain and her own state of West Bengal had been sinking more and more in to the Bay of Bengal with debt burden of over populist governance.
If the Indian parliament had been totally dysfunctional since the last election, the credit almost entirely is that of Sushma Swaraj, the leader of the opposition, in title and action. Sushma Swaraj, who would like to be a future Prime Minister of India, has almost single headedly destroyed the biggest democracy in the world by instigating and leading sheer unruly and disgusting behaviour of elected representatives in parliament.
Dr Subramanian Swamy, an ex professor at Harverd must be credited with finding a life time occupation in filing cases against the Indian Government he can never win. But this doesn't preventSwamy in filing a new case every time he finds an old sheet of news paper with some ludicrous mention of corruption.
Dr Mulrali Manohar Joshi, a leader of the BJP has long since proven his penchant to erase and rewrite history when, as the Human resources Minister, he meddled with school text books, to remove and absolve the cold blooded assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, by Hindu fundamentalists. He has now been exposed as the main instigator of fictitious losses to the government by corrupt practices, which is no surprise at all.
There are of course a bigger list of supporters and collaborators, who the mob may search out on a second wave, for reprimand.
Fortunately, the Indian masses probably have never read Shakespeare, especially Julius Creaser. The chances are they will never ever grasp the importance of GDP or the rating agencies.
Article first published as Six
Hallowed Indians Who Could be Lynched by a Billion of India's Poor if They Knew
Simple Economics. on Technorati.

The election for the next president of India is over even before it is due to be held next month. The result is already known. India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will be the next President.

In the Indian democratic system the President is a mereconstitutional head of the country like the Queen of Great Britain and is often unanimously nominated. Only the elected representatives, who are obliged to go by their party's choice, have the power to vote if an election is required. All major parties, except the Trinmool Congress of the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee, have declared their support for the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who is clearly is headed for victory.
Why is then the vote of Mamta, who has so far opposed Pranab Mukherjee, a fellow Bengalee, is important to the UPA and why she will eventually support his Presidency? There are plenty of reasons.

1 Mamta Banerjee is No Body's Fool.

Despite the sycophantic coterie of men without brains Mamta seems to surround herself with, Mamta Banerjee is a lady of substance. Her courage of conviction to fight for her ideals and her ability to not lose those on the way, like Mayavati of Uttar Pradesh, are reasons why Mamta is her own boss. Mamta and the political coalition of UPA she supports surely knows how far she can take her populism without testing the patience or insulting the intelligence of the rest of the country.

2 Mamta Banerjee Is Right about the Prime Minister and the PM Knows It.

In fact, the nomination by Mamta Banerjee of Man Mohan Singh, the current Prime Minister for the post of president, though met with universal ridicule, is the right solution for India. The P.M., in stature and the view of the world, will no doubt be a better a president of India.
Taking a cue from the world cup, Pranab Mukherjee, a political veteran of the congress party, would be a better "defensive" Prime Minister to take the UPA to the next elections and possibly win it; a crucial political decision the manager in Sonia Gandhi missed but what Mamta has inadvertently suggested, in her fury against Pranab Mukherjee.
There is no doubt her respect for the PM was behind her suggestion which many couldn't see but not missed by the P.M himself as is clear from his accommodating gestures towards her party. Mamta must be glad about the growing mutual respect and can't ignore.

3 Mamta Banerjee Knows West Bengal is the 'Greece' of the Indian Union.

Mamta is well aware of the political "hot Potato" of a financially broke West Bengal she is holding and can't drop. She tried her best to get a fellow Bengalee finance Minister to help her juggle around and can't be blamed for being miffed when no help came forth. But Mamta knows Man Mohan Singh's financial wizardry, which he can render without incurring the blemish of favouritism, is her last hope. Mamta Banerjee is intelligent enough to realise why she still needs to politically support the UPA which is the only way forward.

Mamta sure knows how to throw a tantrum, which may be out of her control. Mamta also knows how to turn those in to political drama to her advantage. But like children learn soon, tantrums have a perishable nature and can be overdone. So Mamta shuts up and sulks like everyone else, which is good because now Mamta and others can talk business and find some realistic solutions.

5 Mamta Banerjee Knows Political Alienation is a Painful Business.

India which is so prone for opportunistic politics without principles is growing politically intolerant to such vagaries of its politicians. A mandate for performance and governance is becoming more and more the pattern. With her ill conceived efforts to forge a new regional power base falling flat on its face, Mamta Banerjee is brutally reminded of the need to keep friends in politics, a lesson why she can't afford to leave the UPA.

6 Mamta Banerjee Knows How To Make and Serve Rasgollas.

Rasgollas, a local dessert made of milk and sugar, is the sweet spot and national weakness of Bengal. Mamta Banerjee surely knows how to make and dish them out, or at least the political version of it, in large quantities. It is the Bengalee national pride both Mamta and Pranab counts on for political survival.
Can Mamta or any leader for that matter afford to hit her vote bank on a sweet spot? You don't have to remind Mamta of all people, herself an artist and personification of Bengalee pride, that she can come across as a spoil sport and deny the simple joy of having a Bengalee President of the country, at her own peril.

Like a school girl pulled up by the Head for throwing wild tantrums, Mamta Banerjee is sulking and has taken her woes to Facebook, of all places. If you miss watching the hysterics of Gaddafi or if you are bored with the damp dander politics of Romney, last week's TV drama of Mamta Banerjee, over the Indian Presidential election, might have been a good diversion. Besides, it could be important for the interests of the U.S.A!

If you wonder who can put up an act more interesting than Gaddafi, it Mamta Banerjee, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of West Bengal, who Hilary Clinton took extra trouble to say Hi to, during her recent visit to the Far East. Hilary and the U.S administration had plenty of reasons to call upon the mercurial leader of 90 million Indians, best described as a bundle of trouble by anyone who has tried to court her, politically.

Mamta Banerjee, affectionately called "Didi", is in fact a true populist leader who has nothing but the misery of the poor and weak at the bottom of her heart, which is reflected in her most Spartan life style and attire not many Indian politicians can honestly claim their own. Some say Mamta Banerjee even fills in for the Late Mother Theresa in her actions and attitude towards the poor, which can bring a drop of tear to her ardent followers.
The root cause of her woes is the inordinately huge financial burden her predecessors, the Communists of India who mismanaged the State affairs for over 34 years had left her to handle and which she has no clue how to solve.
Unfortunately, Mamta Banerjee, as the head of the State Government, wanted and expected the Central Government in Delhi, which is crucially supported by her party's 19 members of parliament, to solve it for her.
Her hope was and now her bitterness is pinned on her fellow Bengalee, Pranab Mukherjee, the finance minister of India, who has consistently refused her demand for obvious financial and political reasons.
For over a year Mamta has tried her best to pressurise the government at the centre, blocking almost every reform, legislation and efforts for dispensing with price control, all of which caused great damage to the Indian economy, bringing down the growth rate.
Manta's last straw was her attempt to block the nomination of Pranab Mukherjee to the post of the President, which she has unwisely opposed, taking a political blow of alienating millions of Bengalees who would be honoured by the ascend of a fellow citizen to the top post of the country.
Mamta has gambled and lost, at least for the time being, and is politically alienated. Now Mamta has turnedto Facebook. However, unlike millions of others who find it as a place to hide and cry over the shoulders of unknown friends, Mamta wants to use it to take her fight rooting for her nominee, Kalam, a past president of India, considered suitable for the post by many people.
The truth is Mamta has only to blame the inept crowd of sycophantic men who surround her, without any knowledge or wisdom to offer practical advice or help in solving real life issues like the financial mess her government has inherited.
The result is the state, like the Ministry of Railways she was heading before, has seen no governance while the Chief Minister was enacting the drama and tantrums elsewhere, to the excitement of everyone.
In fact, by limiting the scope of her visit to niceties and photo shoots rather than addressing real issues where the U.S. could be of real help, Hilary Clinton and Mamta Banerjee have missed a real opportunity.
Hilary Clinton has showered a lot of praise on Mamta for getting rid of a 34 year old communist regime, but some concrete financial measures, behind the scene, could have meant more to Mamta in reality.
For now, "Didi" is plotting her next move and possibly another interesting episode of continuing saga of political shenanigans.

When Hillary Clinton planned and set off to theFareast for what was supposed to be her farewell trip, no one expected the secretary of State and her team to fly right in to the eye of the most testing diplomatic storm of her career. It is remarkable that Hillary Clinton and her equipage left Beijing without being mauled beyond recognition by the Chinese dragons.

So no one can blame Hillary if she decided to take it easy, and give a scoot to her risky engagement with the Tigress of West Bengal, Mamta Banerjee, for some powder room diplomacy instead. Mamta Banerjee had recently got rid of the communists who wrecked the state and its economy during past 24 years and has opposed US investment in India in the retail sector.

In political terms Mamta Banerjee has every quality of a Tiger, an endangered species of wild cats, for which the Sundarban forest of West Bengal is a protected sanctuary and tourist attraction.

Hillary and her team had planned to engage the mercurial leader for extracting concessions for US investment, which she was vehemently objecting. It was part of the larger recognition that power in India no longer resides simply in New Delhi and the U.S. must engage with regional leaders.

Instead, Hillary simply turned her trip in to a charm offensive with her 'namaste' (Indian way of greeting by holding your paws together) and winning smile, making everyone smile and pour accolades and genuine affection on the US Secretary of state, even implore her to contest the presidential in 2016.

Hillary and her team spend the time visiting its Heritage and engaging with its citizens in various cultural programmes though reports say that there were enough of discussions on what she wanted to exchange with the chief minister, which was played down by Mamta and the Indian press.

"I know for myself how difficult it is for women to get elected anywhere," Clinton said in Kolkata. "When I meet a woman who's broken through those barriers. . . we share a common bond, if you will, having gone through the fire of electoral politics."
There is no wonder why Hillary Clinton chose more to explore the lighter side of Kolkata, with which not only the British East India Company but many other famous personalities like Mother Theresa and Dominique Lapierre, the author of 'City Of Joy' were enamoured in the past.
However, it must be the spirit and emotional character of this city, in which it is hard to find a citizen who wants to migrate elsewhere, despite its din and dizzle and mass of population, which must have rubbed on the US Secretary of state and made her declare: "I want to come back to India and wander about without the streets being closed,"
Despite the sweltering heat of the Indian summer, Kolkota, which was the first British capital of India with many heritage buildings and history, has a lot to offer for a tourist with some spirit of adventure.

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LASTING ROSE is the personal BLOG of Sreedhar Pillai
Shred Pillai
who works as a content provider and technical writer. Shred Pillai is also an avid blogger and Influencer who writes for Huffington Post, Technorati and CNN-IBN